26 May 2011

Dean Stiglitz and Laurie Herboldsheimer

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping, by Dean Stiglitz and Laurie Herboldsheimer, available on Amazon. Anyone read it? The review on Amazon is worryingly worthy

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1615640118/ref=pe_98741_25196441_snp_dp

24 May 2011

Deep and tall

Much of my beekeeping is not exactly well-planned. I mean, I keep notes for each hive and have a definite objective each time I visit, but that's no substitute for thinking, unfortunately.

The brood box on one hive could do with changing. Scrotty old foundation, tons of propolis - you get the picture. Reading up on performing a Bailey comb change put me off completely. Instead, I went for the the following: stick a new (deep) brood box on top of the current brood. The idea is that the bees all migrate upwards, and at the end of the season or next spring, I can remove the tatty old brood.

Great. Except that with the new deep brood on top, I how have a hive almost taller than me....

How, exactly, will I manage to lift off full supers?

05 May 2011

Going anywhere nice?

Once again, the bees have outwitted me... by swarming, and choosing to do so while I was on holiday. Did they go anywhere nice?